Pipeline Online: Lower oil prices impacting provincial finances, say NDP
BY BRIAN ZINCHUK
REGINA – With oil prices notably lower than projected in the spring 2025 budget, the Saskatchewan NDP is crying foul.
In a press release on Sept. 5, the NDP said, “The Sask. Party continues to mismanage the province’s finances, failing to properly project oil prices in its budget and downloading the costs of its repeated failures onto Saskatchewan families.
“The Sask. Party pegged the price of oil for 2025-26 at $71 per barrel, but today’s price is only $61. The government’s bogus projection is well off TD Bank and Scotiabank’s latest forecasts of $65 for this fiscal quarter. ScotiaBank predicts prices to fall further in 2026 to $60 per barrel.
“Every $1 the Sask. Party misses on its oil projection on an annualized basis costs the province $18 million.”
Additionally, Sally Housser, Saskatchewan NDP Shadow Minister for Energy & Resources said in the release, “We need a budget that isn’t based in rainbows and fairy dust.”
Housser added, “These guys keep gambling with Saskatchewan’s future and losing. Badly. Oil prices go up and down — budgeting on them at their highest conceivable rate is the worst form of financial mismanagement.”
The release continues, “The oil price miss will add further challenges to a budget already not worth the paper it’s printed on. The Sask. Party projected a meagre $12-million surplus at budget release; however, has since erased those numbers and written in a $349-million deficit after a single fiscal quarter.
“As well, the Sask. Party has promised to end its industrial carbon tax slush fund, but continues to project taking in $466.9 million in carbon tax revenue this year — meaning either they’ve broken their promise, or the deficit has more than doubled.
“There are still three quarters of the year to go,” Housser said. “It takes a special kind of incompetence to be as wrong as the Sask Party is. Even a broken clock is right twice a day.
“They keep hoping the people of Saskatchewan won’t notice, but people are paying the price in their wallets every day.
“And this constant failure costs us when it comes to healthcare, to our schools, to public safety and so much more.
“It’s time for a government that’s serious about managing the province’s finances, addressing the challenges we face and that is focused on building a bright future for every person that calls this incredible province home.”